Here’s a remarkable recording showcasing a little known aspect of Brahms’ genius: his sacred choral music. As a choirmaster in Detmold, Hamburg and Vienna, he left behind an enormous amount of choral works, both sacred and secular. Composed based on extracts from Hölderlin’s famous epistolary novel Hyperion, the Song of Destiny (Schicksalslied) opens this splendid album with an atmosphere reminiscent of A German Requiem. The first two verses picked by Brahms invoke the carefree and peaceful world of Ancient Gods, while the third ends with a dramatic illustration of human destiny. This contrast is a recurring theme throughout Brahms’ literary choices, and makes up the backbone of this recording.Conducted with great suppleness and inwardness by Gijs Leenaars, the works featured in this great album evoke Ancient Greece, a leitmotiv of German romanticism, as well as a form of angst towards life, with unanswered existential questions regarding suffering and pain inflicted by an all-powerful God. This programme alternates between works for a cappella choirs (the excellent Berlin Radio Choir showing an exceptional range of nuances) and others intended for orchestras (Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin). © François Hudry/Qobuz

By no means should you be expecting the "typical" productions we so often associate with the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Together with the soprano Anna Prohaska, she has developed a highly original programme which brings violin and vocals together. In this respect, while we were delighted to find a recording of the beautiful and all too rare Maria-Triptychon, which Frank Martin wrote in 1968 for Irmgard Seefried and her violinist husband Wolfgang Schneiderhan, we wonder whether it was really necessary to dismantle this polyptych whose three movements tell the story of the mother of Christ with perfect fluidity.It must be said that the entirety of this unusual album feels rather all over the place, very much like György Kurtág who unsurprisingly features in this curious inventory of a thousand years of music, from Hildegard von Bingen to the present day.We need to look elsewhere for the main theme and, more precisely, at the questioning of the two musicians around the subject of female emancipation and “the sensitive exploration of their common experiences as women evolving in the current music industry.” This quest for content, set to music around the figure of Mary, evokes a mixture of shimmering colours created by the Camerata de Berne orchestra, and depicts a journey through the ages and arias which incorporates so many of the contradictions of human nature. We highly recommend that you immerse yourself fully, and listen to these twenty tracks from beginning to end. This way you will be better able to appreciate this strangely fascinating patchwork, which feels like a work of art in its own right. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Matthias Goerne not only performs at the highest level as a baritone himself, but his piano accompaniments also rank among the Champions League of classical music. For his first album, which was dedicated to Beethoven songs, he brought Jan Lisiecki on board. This was followed by the album Abendrot with melodies by Wagner and Strauss, among others, together with the young talent Seong-Jin Cho. Now we may experience the baritone in duo with the world-class Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, presenting us with a metaphysical program of Berg, Schumann, Wolf, Shostakovich and Brahms.The combination of music and poetry was brought to a climax in the form of the Romantic art song by Franz Schubert. The composers presented here build on this tradition, and despite the wide, temporal span of their publications - there are 135 years between Schumann's Dichterliebe and Shostakovich's Michelangelo Suite - the closeness and significance to the text and its authors is equally evident in all of them. Schumann's Dichterliebe is probably one of the best examples of this: the setting of Heinrich Heine's texts brings together two masters of Romanticism who could not be better interpreted by Goerne and Trifonov. Themes of impossible love and human suffering are unfolded through extremes in the monologue as well as the music, with Goerne maintaining this "strong sensitivity" throughout. In the same vein, the unspoken finds its place on the piano and takes on much more than just an accompanying role in his interpretation - as well as in art song in general. Trifonov is in direct musical dialogue with Goerne, the two artists communicating at eye level.A similar symbiosis is evident in the Michelangelo musical settings by Wolf and Shostakovich. By abandoning tonality in the latter, the connection between piano and spoken word is again reinforced on another level. A unique duo project by two contemporary greats whose paths will hopefully cross more often. © Lena Germann/Qobuz

Maybe the combination of Brahms and Bruckner with the British choir Tenebrae sounds a little strange: the choir has specialized in Renaissance music and generally in music built on that sound ideal. Maybe the combination of the abstract, devout, and technically demanding Bruckner with the friendly and humanist Brahms sounds a little strange, too. But it all works out very nicely. In the 19th century, when choral music was a bigger part of everyday musical life than it is now, this would have been a program any good municipal choir would have loved to present. And Tenebrae bulks up its style a bit. They hit Bruckner's punishing high notes with the requisite perfect chill, and you can sample one of the large motets at the beginning, such as Ecce sacerdos (track three), for the full range of this choir's remarkable technical control under director Nigel Short. In Brahms pieces like the familiar "How lovely are thy dwellings" from the German Requiem, Op. 45 (track 11), the choir might even be called unusually weighty. Signum hits the ball out of the park sonically with engineering work at London's Temple Church, and the end result is a satisfying and unusual choral disc. A substantial donation from each copy of this album sold goes to Macmillan Cancer Support.© TiVo

The gestation of this project lasted two years. Anna Prohaska and Julius Drake finally concentrated their research on the themes of Eve, Paradise and banishment. Some songs were obvious choices, such as Fauré’s Paradis, in which God appears to Eve and asks her to name each flower and animal, or Purcell’s Sleep, Adam, sleep with its references to Genesis. But Anna Prohaska also wished to illustrate the cliché of the woman who brought original sin into the world and her status as a tempter who leads man astray, as in Brahms’s Salamander, Wolf’s Die Bekehrte or Ravel’s Air du Feu. In Das Paradies und die Peri, Schumann conjures up the image of Syria’s rose-covered plains. Bernstein also transports us to the desert with Silhouette.. John Milton’s seventeenth-century masterpiece Paradise Lost was the inspiration for Charles Ives and Benjamin Britten, also featured in this very rich programme that constitutes an invitation to travel and reflection. © Alpha Classics

Lotte Lenya and Wilhelm Bruckner-Rüggeberg's 1958 recording of Die Dreigroschenoper was the last in a series of albums Lenya made or supervised of her late husband Kurt Weill's music for Philips starting in 1955. The first of these, ultimately released as Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill, was made during her first visit to Germany since being forced out by the Nazis in 1934. By the time of the January 1958 sessions for Die Dreigroschenoper, Lenya found herself widowed once again; second husband George Davis collapsed and died of a heart attack three months before the session, just like her first husband. These were especially dark days for Lenya, who had already seen more than her share of dark days. That Lenya was able to pull up herself up by her bootstraps and participate in this recording was nothing short of a miracle, though in terms of performing in the role of Jenny, Lenya was the ultimate pro; she knew it in three languages and, in the end, sang it more than 2,000 times. That, and her desire to carry through a commitment she and Davis had already made together, was probably just enough to get Lenya through this recording, a significant point as she acted in a supervisory capacity over the whole project.The 1958 Die Dreigroschenoper was the first complete recording of this work, and likewise the first to represent Weill's score and instrumentation exactly as it is on the page; seeing to it that this occurred without compromise was one of Lenya's duties in the session. The 1954 Theatre de Lys recording and its 1930 predecessor with the Lewis Ruth Band were heavily cut, condensed, and arranged, though not quite so "ruthlessly" (pardon the pun) in 1954 as in 1930. This is the clearest advantage to this set over many others; Bruckner-Rüggeberg maintains the right sense of dance tempos throughout, and although his pacing is somewhat slow, at least "Die Zuhalterballade" is performed as a true tango as Weill intended. The overall mood of this recording is more sober and reserved than most others. This may partly derive from Lenya's state of mind at the time, but perhaps also due to the notion in 1958 of Die Dreigroschenoper as less of a biting leftist satire and more of a repertory piece; so much water had gone under the bridge since its Berlin premiere in 1928. Although Lenya, of course, is perfect, some of the cast choices are less than ideal -- Johanna von Kóczián is somewhat less than fresh as Polly and Erich Schellow portrays Macheath almost like a secondary operetta character. However, other choices are ideal; Willy Trenk reprises his role as Peachum from the original cast, and Wolfgang Neuss is an ideal Moritatensänger. Neuss' recording was one of at least three utilized by television pioneer Ernie Kovacs in his frequent employment of "Die Moritat" as background music for spot gags; the others were Kurt Gerron's 1930 version and one recorded by Bert Brecht himself.The 1982 CD version of the 1958 Die Dreigroschenoper was one of the earliest CD packages originating from CBS Masterworks in Germany; it reflects the LP-informed production values of that time. While it comes in a fairly big box, it only includes one disc; the box is to help house the 1/8" thick, 96-page booklet included. The printing of the booklet is rather lightly applied, and one may wish to opt for reading glasses or a magnifying glass to enjoy the three-language libretto inside. Nevertheless, for those looking to become acquainted with Die Dreigroschenoper for the first time in its native tongue, CBS Masterworks' issue of Philips 1958 recording remains a first-rate option.© TiVo

In the 18th century, "well-populated" church music was a self-evident tradition throughout central Germany: church services were embellished along the ecclesiastical year with cantatas appropriate to the liturgy for the glory of God, but also for the joy and "spiritual edification" of the visitors. From this treasure of hitherto unknown Christmas music, four cantatas by Ernst Wilhelm Wolf are presented for the first time on this recording. Wolf worked as court kapellmeister in Weimar, and the fact that Goethe rejected him as "self-indulgent" should not prevent us from admiring him as a very important composer of the transition. Musically, Wolf was greatly influenced by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in the sensitive style and by the works of the Berlin Kapellmeister Carl Heinrich Graun. He was also a prolific composer whose works were received with admiration by his contemporaries. The four cantatas show elements of the early classical and sensitive styles; the cantata choruses are often homophonic and songlike, polyphonic sections rather rare. All the cantatas prove to be individually conceived works that testify to the composer's mastery. Beautiful sounding arias, the naturalness of their expression and the dramatic compression in the individual movements are still convincing today. At the same time, the cantatas bear witness to the high quality of Protestant church music in the period after Johann Sebastian Bach and illustrate the high value of music within the liturgy. Today they can be a welcome addition to the repertoire for the Christmas season. © CPO

Erich Wolfgang Korngold was described as ‘arguably the most remarkable prodigy in history’, whose transition into artistic maturity was almost seamless. The successes of his youth continued with works such as the Piano Quintet, Op. 15, in which the brilliant interplay of the instruments, songful expressiveness and dramatic power create a masterpiece of weight and substance. The Suite, Op. 23 is a highly virtuosic piece in which Korngold leads us on a monumental stroll through a gallery of European musical history, from Bach via Beethoven to the early 20th century. Spectrum Concerts Berlin has also recorded Korngold’s Piano Trio, Op. 1 and String Sextet, Op. 10 for Naxos. © Naxos

The title of this release by soprano Robyn Allegra Parton refers not only to a general mood of circa-1900 Vienna but specifically to the frequent use of burnished gold-leaf in the paintings of Gustav Klimt, whose Vienna Secession movement in art had many affinities to what was happening in the musical world. Parton uses the gold as lipstick in the graphics; one may or may not go for this, but the package here is coherent and satisfying in several ways. Richard Strauss is present on the program, and Parton, writing her own notes, correctly points out that his influence loomed large on all the composers heard here. But in a way, the interest of Parton's program lies in the differences among the styles of the composers on the program. Parton puts the listener in the place of an audience member at a vocal recital of the time, hearing the Impressionist hints of Joseph Marx, the new simplicity of the young Erich Korngold, the decisive steps toward atonality in the Seven Early Songs of Berg (at the time Schoenberg's student), and the works of two female composers, the quite playful experimental Johanna Müller-Hermann and Alma Mahler-Schindler, both of whom were heard fairly frequently at the time but were later forgotten. Parton's voice is an absolutely distinctive soprano, with a bit of rough texture flashing unexpectedly into a brilliant top. Quite a few recordings lately have explored the rich repertory of Austrian vocal music of this period, but this one is especially well thought-out and executed; it appeared on classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2023. © James Manheim /TiVo

Franz Schubert's songs sometimes found their way into his instrumental works, perhaps most famously in the fourth movement of the Piano Quintet in A major, D667, "Trout," which was based on Die Forelle, D550; the Wanderer Fantasy in C major, D760, which was inspired by Der Wanderer, D489; and the second movement of the String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D810, which was based on Der Tod und das Mädchen, D531. Digging a little deeper into Schubert's oeuvre, the Signum Quartett explores less obvious relationships, though no less significant, because the mixing of songs and instrumental works was common at his private concerts for his friends, the Schubertiades. This 2018 release on PentaTone Classics, Aus der ferne, presents a handful of Lieder in arrangements for string quartet by the group's violist, Xandi van Dijk, and two lyrical chamber works, the String Quartet No. 8 in B flat major, D112, and the String Quartet No 13 in A minor, "Rosamunde." Listening to this hybrid SACD doesn't require any special research or careful bar-by-bar analysis, because Schubert's melodies are plainly evident and the Signum Quartett plays with great warmth and a light, lyrical spirit, so the program works exceptionally well as pure music, intriguing as the connections between the songs and the quartets are.© TiVo

Recorded live at a performance in Bayreuth on 14 August 2011, this Lohengrin naturally benefits a lot from the place's amazing sound; the listener will surely forgive the little noises from around the stage or hall: it is, after all, a very small price to pay for having a front-row seat at a live performance, and with the element of risk – taken by the singers, at least – which heightens the experience. The production brings together some of the greatest voices of the day, led by the tenor Klaus Florian Vogt, a real free radical, who started his career as... horn player in the Hamburg Philharmonic! But soon he heard the call of the lyrical, and he began a superb career as a tenor, first lighter, in Mozartian roles, and then more powerful with Wagner and the roles of the young "Heldentenor." As Elsa, we have Annette Dasch, who had already made a much-remarked-upon début in Bayreuth the year before – also as Elsa. Bass Heinrich Zeppenfeld is following the same Bayreuth trajectory, as King Henry the Fowler. The ambiguous Ortrud is played by Petra Lang, who since moved on to play Isolde, also at Bayreuth, a few years later – a fine rendition. © SM/Qobuz